Late one night as I lay on the thick mattress of my top bunk, I flip through the channels of my television and see a spectacle that just blows me away. Can this possibly be televised? How old must these actors be? MTV recently launched a brand new television series named ‘Skins.’ This television series revolves around teenagers at the age of seventeen that get involved in underground activities such as drug use and sell, alcohol use, sex, and parties. Even though this sounds like a typical American television show, it actually derived from a series that originated in Great Britain.
This television show is very inappropriate and could violate child pornography laws according to David Carr’s article “MTV’s Naked Calculation Gone Bad.” Some of the actors’ ages range down to age fifteen according to Carr. This is extremely illegal if any nudity or portrayal of sex is used. Most of the other actors are even seventeen which would still be one year under the legal age of eighteen. The rules of the child pornography statutes have gotten so close to being broken, that according to the New York Times, “MTV higher-ups have ordered producers to tame down future episodes of the show.”
According to the Justice Department’s legal guidance, the New York Times says, “any visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In some cases, 'a picture of a naked child may constitute illegal child pornography if it is sufficiently sexually suggestive.’” I have seen the show, and it is very apparent to me that the actors and actresses on the show are engaging in sexual activity and very illegal illicit drug and alcohol use. I believe that the show should be taken off of the air because of its danger in breaking child pornography laws.
Picture: Skins by original owner eskimo_joWorks Cited
Carr, David. "MTV's Naked Calculation Gone Bad." New York Times. New York Times, 23 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/business/media/24carr.html.
Eskimo, Jo. SKINS US Cast. 2010. Photograph. Www.flikr.com, St. Lawrence, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
